Improvement in guard-fingers for harvesters



. P atentedi -March 15, 1864.

6&6 Y Z 5/ I UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE..-

A. A. HOTOHKISS, or SHARON, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN GUARD-FINGERS FOR HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,922, dated March 15, 1864.

To all whom it may concern. I

Be it known that I, ASAHEL A. Horornnss, of Sharon, in the county of Litchtield and Stateof Connecticut,have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Guard-Fingers for Harvesters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

Figure l is a side view of the guard-finger complete. Fig. 2 is a corresponding plan view. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line S S in Fig. 2, representing the parts before the steel and and iron have been joined together; and Fig. 4 is a similar section, except that it represents the parts after the steel and the iron have been united and the guard-finger thereby made complete.

Similarletters of referenceindicatelikeparts in all .the figures.

My invention relates to the plating or facing of the working-surfaces of the guard-finger with steel. A patent was issued to myself and John P. Adriance, dated June 21, 1859, for a mode of applying plane pieces of sheet-steel. In that invention the plates were cut by dies or otherwise in the proper form, and were beveled at and near the hinder ends to allow the cast-iron to he compressed or headed down upon it. that means with sufficient firmness, a considerable thickness-say one-eighth of aninch-of steel was required, and even with such steel it has been by some manufacturers deemed expedient to incur the additional expense of inserting a rivet through the same to aid in securing it. I have devised a simple and efficient means whereby the plates may be held with any amount of security which may be considered necessary without the necessity of inserting a rivet; and I am able in consequence of this invention to accomplish all the results of the before-named invention with the use of much thinner steel. I am able in practice to employ successfully the scrapsteel which results from the manufacture of the vibrating cutters of the harvester and reduce the cost both of material and of labor to a very great extent.

To enable others skilled in the art to make in order to hold the rear end by and use my invention, I will proceed to describe it bythe aid of the drawings and of the letters of reference marked thereon.

A is the body of the finger, and B the top surfaces of M M are adapted to receive a portion of the casting, which is headed down upon it, and which may be, by reason of the great depth or extent of the surfaces'of thewings M M, much stronger and more efficient as a. means of confining the steel than the corresponding parts in Hotchkiss and Adriances invention.

The under surfaces of M M mayrest fairly on the bottom of'the-cavities in which they are sunk, and the superfluous metal of the casting may be removed by filing or otherwise after the steel has been thus fixed in its proper position.

I do not claim in this patent securing steel in its proper position on the guard-finger by heading cast-iron down upon the oblique or beveled surfaces of the steel, except when such oblique surfaces extend below the under side of the plane portion 0, either by the bending down or otherwise shaping the metal 0, as above represented.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Forming the steel facings of guard-fingers with wings M M, extending obliquely downward below the under face of the plane portion 0, substantially in the manner and forthe purpose herein set forth.

A. A. HOTGHKISS. 

